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Definition of semiotics in English:

semiotics

plural noun

treated as singularThe study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.

‘Post-structuralism is just classical sceptical thought re-cast in the language of semiotics, Ursula.’

‘Art historical practices driven by developments in literary criticism, semiotics, studies of gender, and ethnicity, to name but a few areas of concern, are moves in this direction.’

‘In common with socio-linguistics, social semiotics assumes that language varies with social context, and also assumes that the reader of any narrative system plays an active part in its interpretation.’

‘Endless books on the cinema - whether they propounded auteur theory or semiotics or cultural studies - forsook the intelligent general reader for arcane interpretation.’

‘Anyway, in semiotics a sign is an abstract unit of social meaning.’

‘This notion is in keeping with research in semiotics which demonstrates how signs, such as words, pictures, gestures, and so forth, make meaning.’

‘I have always been concerned with semiotics - the study of signs and symbols as communication - and how so many persons fail to see how misleading certain subtle methods can be in deceiving them.’

‘She combines the methods of history, semantics, and semiotics to show how and why the formulae were first adopted in organic chemistry.’

‘Structuralism and semiotics thought more about the technicalities of linguistic and literary forms.’

‘The distinctions between these two domains are frequently contested and debated in the realms of semiotics, structuralism, poetics, and aesthetics.’

‘The act of signifying is signification, a term that is often used synonymously with ‘meaning’ and ‘sense’, and occurs in the discussions of students of semantics and semiotics.’

‘Language-based approaches, such as semiotics, structuralism, and post-structuralism, are not vision-based.’

‘Not all of which moves towards discursive literacy, nor is it meant to be captured solely by semiotics of language and linguistic systems.’

‘Structuralism, semiotics, and later, psychoanalysis were all ransacked for help in understanding how a film achieved its effects.’

‘It is hardly surprising then that so many of them should be fascinated by semiotics - the signs and symbols by which we order our lives.’

‘The successors to Frazerism and ritualism have been principally two: structuralism and semiotics.’

‘Those finding the answer in rhetoric (sound as oratorical figures) or semiotics (sound as signs) will alike pick on the more graphic elements in his music.’

‘Studies in film semiotics will have us know that film itself functions as a cultural language, one that provides a distinct visual vocabulary upon which viewers will call to make sense of the fragmented culture in which they live.’

‘Tartu University is known for work in linguistics and semiotics.’

Origin

Late 19th century: from Greek sēmeiotikos ‘of signs’, from sēmeioun ‘interpret as a sign’.